BOSTON — Instant reactions from the Red Sox’ 6-4 win over the Cleveland Guardians at Fenway Park on Monday:

1) Boston improved to 77-62, including 43-27 at home. The Guardians dropped to 68-68.

2) The Red Sox’s trade Sunday night to re-acquire catcher Ali Sánchez from the Mets immediately paid dividends even though Sánchez didn’t play in the game.

With three catchers on the roster, manager Alex Cora is able to be more aggressive early in games with Carlos Narváez and Connor Wong. He took advantage of this luxury, using Narváez off the bench in the fifth inning as a pinch hitter for Nathaniel Lowe against lefty Erik Sabrowski.

Narváez stroked a two-run single into right field with the bases loaded and no outs to put Boston ahead 5-3. Cora immediately pinch ran for Narváez but he still had Sánchez available in case something happened to Wong later in the game.

“We have three catchers now and we can do that early in the game,” manager Alex Cora said, then confirming he never would have done it with just two catchers on the roster.

3) It marked Narváez first career pinch hit and first career pinch-hit RBI. He was previously 0-for-4 with two strikeouts as a pinch hitter, including 0-for-3 this year.

4) Trevor Story made it 6-3 with a 306-foot solo homer in the sixth inning. It was the shortest non inside-the-park homer in MLB this year, just shorter than Ceddanne Rafaela’s 308-foot walkoff homer on June 4 vs. the Angels. Story’s homer hit off right fielder Jhonkensy Noel’s glove and then off Pesky’s Pole before bouncing onto the top of the wall.

The initial call on the field was a foul ball. But the Red Sox challenged it and it was overturned.

“It was obviously cool to get one (off) the Pesky Pole,” Story said. “I think that’s the first one I got. Yeah, it was crazy. I didn’t know what was going on at first. And then finally the last few clips, I saw it hit the pole.”

Story remained on second base and watched clips of it on the Jumbotron while the play was being reviewed.

“It’s weird for sure because you’re trying to stay locked in, in case it’s a foul ball,” Story said. “So yeah, just kind of a weird time. But after I saw the last couple of clips, I felt good about it.”

5) Starter Brayan Bello pitched 5 innings, allowing three runs, six hits and three walks while striking out four. He didn’t have his best stuff but still did enough to earn the win.

6) Boston took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Roman Anthony led off the inning with a single and Alex Bregman followed with a double. Anthony scored on a balk and Bregman scored on Romy Gonzalez’s opposite-field RBI single.

7) Aroldis Chapman — who participated in a press conference before the game to answer questions about his extension — earned his 28th save and his ERA dropped to 1.00.

8) Interesting stat from reporter Marcos Grunfeld that no team has had more balks committed against them than the Red Sox this season. He noted that opponents have balked 14 times, leading to six runs. The balk Boston scored on during the first inning came when Guardians starter Parker Messick lost balance during his delivery. The Guardians had another one later in the game.

9) Cleveland took a 3-2 lead in the second but the Red Sox tied it 3-3 in the bottom half of the inning on Story’s RBI single, giving him 85 RBIs this season. His solo homer gave him 86 RBIs.

10) The Red Sox and Guardians will play the second game of their series Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet (14-5, 2.40 ERA) will start opposite righty Slade Cecconi (5-6, 4.41 ERA).